A Gradual Change

October 18, 2005

According to Prof. Mark W. Durm, who teaches psychology at Athens State University, U.S. colleges tried many grading systems before settling on letter grades. Yale University President Ezra Stiles wrote in 1785 that 58 students were present at an examination and that they were graded this way:

Harvard University tried a few systems, including using a scale of 1 to 20 -- 20 being best -- on a rhetoric exam in 1830 and a scale of 1 to 100 -- 100 being best -- in mathematics and philosophy classes in 1837.

Yale used a grading scale in 1813 with 4.0 at the top, then changed to a scale with 9.0 at the top.

The University of Michigan tried a pass/no pass system in 1851, and in 1867 it had a system that included a P for passing, a C for conditioned and A for absent.

In 1877, Harvard tried again by classifying students into six divisions, with no indication which division marked failure: